Mark my words,they are changing

The recessionista (person shopping for bargains on designer wear) has already made its way into conversations. But already,recessionista is on its way to being ‘so last week’ as chiconomic (chic and economic) takes centrestage.

This is what neologisms are all about: a perfect reflection of a fast growing society. A neologism,(coined in 1803) is a word devised in a specific time period often directly attributable to a specific person,publication,period,or event.  

Politicians are well-known neologists.

For example,the White House’s recent offering is Obamanomics—US President Barack Obama’s plan to help save the country from the backlash of recession. Or there’s Saddlebacking. The story goes,that President Obama asked Rick Warren,pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life—to speak at his inauguration. Warren has old-fashioned views about homosexuality and gay columnist Dan Savage asked readers to define the term saddlebacking,preferably as a sexual abuse.

 No one can beat the good ol’ George W. Bush for giving rise to some classics. His last memorable one was when an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the former US President in Baghdad. The Internet (a neologism itself) has Ducking the Shoe (or Duck the Shoe) as a new oft used phrase. Its definition? Escaping even the most minor of punishments for extended errors or catastrophic misdeeds. And who can forget Bush’s very own ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that gave birth to loads of new phrases — weapons of mass deception,weapons of mass discomfort,weapons of mass entertainment or weapons of mass obstruction.  

Neologisms go through stages before they enter a language. They could be unstable (extremely new or used by few people),diffused (significant but not widespread use),stable (recognised by most),dated (not new or now a cliché) or simply passé (use of it is now a stigma). Unstable neologisms include a Sundaily (Every Sunday) or to fing (to move one’s fingers). Metrosexual and wardrobe malfunction are now passé.

Social networking sites also give new dimensions to language,with the noun being used like a verb: on Facebook you ‘friend’ people you know.

Closer home,Rajuicing can be found on desi blogs. It means sexing up the accounts to make a company look attractive to the stock market. It is part Raju (after Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computers) and part juicing up.

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire also threw up a neologism with the movie having a Slumdog kind of night at the Oscars. But Slumdog cannot beat Brangelina as Hollywood’s favourite neologism.

Meanwhile,as we xerox,google,and photoshop on the Internet,the word and its meaning are changing.